Council tables proposed ordinance indefinitely

A proposed ordinance that would have amended an existing law was taken off the agenda and then tabled indefinitely Monday night during Flandreau City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting.

Proposed Ordinance 555 would have given the Council the ability to budget money in order to fix, repair, or replace bad or non-existing sidewalks in town, but after hearing concerns from residents about the idea, they decided to no longer pursue adoption.

The Council held a first reading of the Ordinance a few meetings back but received a few letters with concerns about it, including one from Brenda Doyle, who was present at Monday’s meeting where she voiced her concern. Doyle told the Council that she believes that the current Ordinance could still work, and that the City should not spend money on fixing something that should be the responsibility of the homeowner.

Flandreau’s Aldermen had heard from several others of their constituents since the first reading, which led them to table the proposed ordinance indefinitely, meaning they could revisit it later, most likely only if more support from the citizens was shown.

“Personally, I don’t care how we do it, I just want to get the sidewalks done,” Alderman Ron Smith said. “We go off complaints in this office and we don’t get a lot of them in this office to my knowledge so we were looking for a way to solve the problem,” he added.

The Council will continue to look into ways they can get the sidewalks repaired around town that will be satisfactory for both the City and its citizens.